Women’s organisations delivering the Women’s Centre Model are struggling to survive

New data published today by the National Women’s Justice Coalition (NWJC) [1] and the UK Women's Budget Group (WBG) [2] shows that women’s organisations are facing extreme financial precarity and insecurity in the current financial year and beyond.

Read the full briefing here

In light of these findings, the NWJC and WBG are collectively calling on the government for sustainable, long-term funding for women’s centres and specialist services to ensure the successful delivery of the Women’s Justice Board’s new strategy to reduce the number of women in prison and increase the number supported in the community.

A survey conducted in February 2025 of the 26 women’s organisations that make up the NWJC (73% of whom receive Ministry of Justice funding) revealed:

• 77% have not yet secured sufficient funding to cover their forecast 25/26 expenditure, with the average funding shortfall amounting to £756,826 per organisation.
     
• Cost of living adjustments to Ministry of Justice contracts for 2025-26 have peaked at just 2.5%. Compared to the substantial increases to operational costs for women’s organisations - as a result of the employer National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increase, rising energy costs, and increases in salaries due to changes in the minimum wage – women’s organisations now face difficult decisions and financial cutbacks that will pose risk to their sustainability and the delivery of their vital services.

Women’s organisations are proven to provide cost-effective interventions for women in contact with the criminal justice system and those at risk of offending. They have the potential to address prison overcrowding and realise savings to the public purse from improved outcomes for women and their families. However, women’s organisations will remain overstretched and at risk unless a sustainable funding model is established to ensure these organisations are able to thrive; and to provide consistent, nationwide coverage.

This new briefing summarises the most recent evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of the Women’s Centre Model in community-based alternatives to prison for women. It makes recommendations that would ensure women’s centres and specialist services can play a key role in reducing the number of women in our prisons and delivering effective community sentences.

Dr Sara Reis, Deputy Director and Head of Research and Policy at the Women’s Budget group, said;

“Women’s interaction with the criminal justice system is both a cause and a consequence of women’s economic inequality. Women’s centres are doing extraordinary work to support women untangle the complex roots of offending, while being more cost-effective than sending women to prison. Yet, they are forced to operate on a knife-edge, worrying if they can keep their doors open. This spending review is the Government’s chance to make good on their commitment to reduce the number of women in prison and commit to a long-overdue sustainable funding settlement for Women’s centres across the country."

Abbi Ayers, Director of Strategic Development for National Women’s Justice Coalition, said:

“If the Secretary of State for Justice and the Women’s Justice Board are committed to their ambition to reduce the number of women in prison, they must centre women’s organisations in the Board’s strategy, recognising and protecting sustainable, long-term investment in the Women’s Centre Model and specialist women’s services, to enable more women to be supported in the community.”

Read the full briefing here

[1] Birth Companions is proud to be a member of the National Women’s Justice Coalition, an alliance of 26 women’s organisations from across England and Wales that share a collective mission to drive systemic change to reduce the stigmatisation of women and girls in contact with the criminal justice system and improve outcomes for them.

[2] The UK Women’s Budget Group (WBG) is the UK’s leading feminist economics think tank, providing evidence and analysis on women’s economic position and proposing policy alternatives for a gender-equal economy. WBG acts as a link between academia, the women’s voluntary sector and progressive economic think tanks.